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Weathering with You
| director = Makoto Shinkai | producer = Genki Kawamura | starring = | writer = Makoto Shinkai | music = Heitor Pereira | cinematography = Ryōsuke Tsuda | editing = Makoto Shinkai | studio = }} | distributor = Toho | released = | runtime = 112 minutes | country = Japan | language = Japanese | budget = | gross = * }} }} is a 2019 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The film is set in Japan during a period of exceptionally rainy weather and tells the story of a high-school boy who runs away to Tokyo and befriends an orphan girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather. The film was produced by CoMix Wave Films, Genki Kawamura, and Story Inc., and the music was composed by Heitor Pereira with additional music by Guillaume Roussel, Emily Joseph, John Jennings Boyd and Nathan Stornetta. ''Weathering with You was released in Japan on July 19, 2019; the previous day, a novel adaptation written by Shinkai—one of his original works—was published. A manga adaptation illustrated by Watari Kubota was first serialized in Kodansha's Afternoon on July 25 the same year; it was selected as the Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. It also received four Annie Award nominations including Best Independent Animated Feature, which makes it the third anime film tying with Spirited Away and Millennium Actress to have four nominations, which is the highest for an anime film at the Annies. . Plot High-school freshman Hodaka Morishima runs away from his home and moves to Tokyo. On the trip, he almost gets thrown off a ferry when a freak rainstorm hits it. However, he is saved by a man named Keisuke Suga, who gives Hodaka his business card in case he ever needed help. Hodaka contacts Suga and is hired as an assistant to his small publishing company. At work, Hodaka meets Natsumi, Suga's niece. They investigate urban legends relating to the unusual weather in Tokyo; from a psychic, they hear the legend of a weather maiden who can control the weather. Hodaka encounters Hina, who has been intimidated into working at a sketchy club, and rescues her. The two teens escape to a nearby abandoned building where she demonstrates her ability to clear the sky by praying. Inspired by the legend of the weather maiden, Hodaka visits Hina at her home and proposes that they start a business together; Hina would provide her mysterious ability to people who want clear weather for special events. Their business becomes a great success and they attract a large number of clients ranging from kindergarten students to corporate giants. At Hina's living quarters, Hodaka hides in the bathroom as the police interrogate Hina about Hodaka's whereabouts. An officer informs Hina that social services will be called in to take away Nagi, Hina's younger brother, because they are minors with no legal guardian. Once the police officers leave, Hodaka visits Suga in his car, who fires him from his job and gives him severance pay. Suga apologizes for his inability to help Hodaka any further because he doesn't want any complications that could deter his filing for custody for his daughter. Hodaka decides to run away with Hina and Nagi. They spend the night at a hotel where Hina reveals that her body is slowly being turned into water. She explains that her existence is the cause of the abnormal weather and her disappearance would return it to normal. Hodaka refuses to let this happen and promises to protect her. But, the next day, Hina goes missing, and the rains have consequently stopped. Hodaka sets out to find her, but he and Nagi are taken custody by the police before they can leave the hotel. Hodaka manages to escape the police station and gains the help of Natsumi as she is passing by. The police chase Hodaka until he reaches the building with the shrine where Hina first got her powers. Inside, he encounters Suga, who attempts to stop him from running away any further. The police manage to infiltrate the building and have Hodaka surrounded. Driven by his concern for the desperate Hodaka, Suga helps him escape from the Takai police, followed by Nagi appearing and stopping Yasui. Hodaka manages to reach the top of the building and jumps through the shrine. He is then transported above the world in the sky and rescues Hina. As they fall to earth, Hodaka begs Hina to start living for herself, and the rains resume with no foreseeable end. Three years pass; Hodaka, who has been on probation, graduates from high school and immediately returns to live in a now half-submerged Tokyo. He goes to meet Suga, who has expanded his business, who pushes him to see Hina. He then looks for Hina, whom he has not spoken to in the last three years. While walking on a rainy day, he finds Hina praying on the other end of the street, and the two are finally reunited. Characters * . }}. A high school student who leaves his isolated island home for Tokyo, where he lives in isolation and finds a job as a writer. * . . A cheerful and sturdy girl living with her brother. She has the ability to change the weather. * . . A writer who hires Hodoka. * . . A college student working at the same company as Hodaka and Keisuke. * . . Taki's grandmother. * . . Hina's younger brother. * . . An old, experienced police officer. * . . A young police officer and Yasui's partner. * . . * . . * . . Mitsuha appeared as a jewelry saleswoman in the store of LUMINE. Hodaka asks her whether the ring he chooses for Hina is suitable. Mitsuha appeared in Shinkai's previous film Your Name. * . . On August 14, 2021, Taki helps Fumi hold the Obon ceremony for his late grandfather. He advised Hodaka to find a gift for Hina's birthday. Taki appeared in Shinkai's previous film Your Name. Production On August 2, 2018, Makoto Shinkai announced that he was making a new feature film that would be released the following year. The film staff includes Masayoshi Tanaka as character designer, Atsushi Tamura as animation director and Hiroshi Takiguchi as art director. Weathering With You was planned using the storyboarding and pre-production software Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. Shinkai twitted about his admiration for Shikao Suga, and that he "borrowed" the last name for the character Keisuke Suga. Casting More than 2,000 people auditioned for the roles of the film's two protagonists; Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori were chosen. Other key roles were filled with returning crew members of Your Name. On May 29, 2019, additional cast was announced: Shun Oguri (Keisuke Suga), Tsubasa Honda (Natsumi), Chieko Baisho (Tomi), Sakura Kiryuu (Nagisa Amano), Sei Hiraizumi (Yasui), and Yuki Kaji (Takai). Recording Daigo (Hodaka Morishima) and Mori (Hina Amano) began recording their parts on April 27, 2019. Music There are two J-Pop songs, Koi Suru Fortune Cookie by AKB48 and Koi by Gen Hoshino, used as Karaoke songs in the film. Marketing On December 13, 2018, a press conference was held to reveal the film and announce it would be released on July 19, 2019. The first teaser trailer debuted on April 10, exactly 100 days before the premiere. The second trailer was released on May 28. Producer Genki Kawamura presented a work in process screening on June 14, 2019, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France that was open to industry professionals and students but not the general public. TV Asahi aired footage from the film's opening scene during a reshowing of Shinkai's previous film Your Name on June 30. Before its screening in Japan, Uniqlo's launched special t-shirts with designs inspired by Weathering with You and Shinkai's previous anime films. Weathering With You reportedly promoted multiple products and companies including SoftBank Group, Suntory and Baitoru, in television advertisements. During its screening in Japan, many convenience stores such as Lawson launched food products inspired by the film. Weathering with You screenings in 4DX and MX4D begins from September 27 onwards. Release Weathering with You was released in Japan on July 19, 2019, at 9 a.m. by its distributor Toho on 448 screens in 359 theaters across the country. Theaters in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Osaka's Umeda districts, however, premiered the film at midnight, July 18. Weathering with You official website announced on September 20 that the film will be shown in the popular 4DX and MX4D formats throughout Japan from September 27. It was announced that the film would be released worldwide; on July 16, releases had already been decided for 140 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, exceeding the 130 for Your Name. In Asia, EDKO Films released the film in Hong Kong on August 8, Encore Films streamed a Malay, Chinese, and English-subtitled trailer and announced and released the film in few Southeast Asia countries including; Indonesia on August 21, Vietnam on August 30, Malaysia & Brunei on September 5 and Singapore on September 12. Pioneer Films announced and released the movie in the Philippines on August 28. Producer Genki Kawamura said they want to release it in India because 53,000 people signed a petition requesting its release there. On August 10, director Makoto Shinkai and the official page of Weathering with You announced through Twitter the film would be screened in 20 Indian cities including Mumbai and Delhi from October 11, 2019. PVR Pictures and Bookmyshow-backed theater-on-demand platform Vkaao will distribute the film. It will be the first mature Japanese animated film to be screened theatrically in India. CJ CGV announced that Weathering with You would premiere in South Korea in October 30. Volga Film Company has confirmed it would release the film on October 31. Thai film distributor Major Group announced the film would open in Thailand on November 7, 2019, but was changed to September 5, 2019. The film has been approved by Beijing's censors and will hit Chinese theaters on November 1. In North America, GKIDS announced that it had acquired the rights of the film and will screen an awards-qualifying run in 2019, followed by a theatrical release with Japanese and English-language options on January 17, 2020. The 44th Toronto International Film Festival, which was held from September 5 to 15 in 2019, hosted the North American premiere of the film. As part of the "Special Presentation" category, it is eligible to compete for the People's Choice award. GKIDS will premiere the film in the US at Animation Is Film Festival on October 18, 2019, with Makoto Shinkai in attendance. In Europe, the 67th San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain hosted the European premiere of the film from September 20 to 28 2019. Anime Limited acquired the UK and Ireland rights of the film, premiering the film at Scotland Loves Anime on October 12, 2019, with a theatrical run in Japanese and English-language options from January 17, 2020. In Italy, Dynit and Nexo Digital released the film theatrically on October 14, 2019. Selecta Visión has licensed it in Spain and screened the film on November 29, 2019. In France, the film will be released on January 8, 2020 by Anime Limited and BAC Films. In Germany, the film will be released on January 16, 2020 by Universum Film. In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment acquired the rights of the film and began screening it theatrically from August 22, 2019. Reception Box office During its initial screening in 359 theaters and 448 screens in Japan, Weathering with You sold 1,159,020 tickets to earn 1,643,809,400 (approx $15.22 million) in its first three days. It was reported that Weathering with You surpassed Shinkai's previous film, Your Name, which earned 1,277,960,000 (about $12.51 million at the time) in its first three days of screening, earning 28.6% more. As of August 25, 2019, it had sold eight million tickets and earned 10.73 billion (about $101 million). As of September 16, 2019, it had earned 12.72 billion ranking eighteenth in the Japanese film box-office ranking of all-time. Critical response Early reviews have given Weathering with You a generally positive response. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.31/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku praised the film, saying; "parts of the movie are incredibly moving and for interweaving Shinto beliefs with contemporary Japanese lifelike praying and performing rituals to god for getting clear weather" but later wrote "the biggest problem that Weathering With You has is this: it’s the follow up to Your Name". Daryl Harding writing for Crunchyroll News praised the world-building aspect of the film, stating that Shinkai has his finger on the pulse of modern Tokyo's atmosphere, but criticized the similarity between Weathering with You and Your Name. Kim Morrissy of Anime News Network also gave the film a generally positive review, praising its visuals and use of weather to convey the story's metaphor but criticizing the execution in the second half of the film; she wrote that "Shinkai was evidently constrained by the need to fit his story into a particular template, one that didn't seem to fit the plot this time around". Ollie Barder, writing for Forbes, described the animation of Weathering with You as "incredible" and recognized its ability to bring "Tokyo to life in a uniquely palpable way". Later, he praised Shinkai for his way of depicting "wildlife and naturalistic vistas". James Marsh from South China Morning Post praised the film for its animation but criticized it for its lack of "clarity of vision seen in Your Name". He described the plot as more straightforward than that of Your Name but said it has some unanswered, "dangling plot threads". A review by Alicia Haddick for Otaquest praised the film's attempts to differentiate itself from Makoto Shinkai's past work and praised its animation, story and music but said that its reliance on the structure of his last film hurt the movie overall, stating that "it's impossible to discuss this film without the specter of Your Name hanging over your shoulder". Andrew Paredes, writing for ANC X, praised the film's characters, story, themes, and Makoto Shinkai's directing, saying; "The effusive emotion and Shinto mysticism rubbing up nicely against real-world concerns. And then there’s the animation: Shinkai has outdone himself with this follow-up, presenting Tokyo not just with detailed fidelity, but also with a glow that suggests a lush, lambert inner life." Terence Toh, writing for The Star, praised the film's characters and story, saying; "Weathering With You boasts of wonderful visual and likeable characters. The story is also right as rain." Accolades Adaptations Novelization On April 30, 2019, Shinkai announced through Twitter he had finished writing a novel adaptation of Weathering with You. It was released in print and in digital format by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko on July 18, 2019. On October 24, 2019, Yen Press announced they had licensed the novel for North American release, in print and in digital format, on December 17. Manga A manga adaptation drawn by Watari Kubota began serialization on July 25, 2019, in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine. It was announced that the manga would have a colored opening page. See also * List of highest-grossing animated films * List of highest-grossing anime films * List of highest-grossing films in Japan * List of submissions to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film * List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film Notes References }} External links * * at CoMix Wave Films * * * * * * Category:2019 animated films Category:2019 anime films Category:Animated teen films Category:Anime films Category:Anime with original screenplays Category:CoMix Wave Films Category:Films about weather hazards Category:Films directed by Makoto Shinkai Category:Films set in Tokyo Category:Japanese animated fantasy films Category:Japanese teen films Category:Novels set in Tokyo Category:Toho animated films Category:Anime films scored by Heitor Pereira Category:Anime films scored by Guillaume Roussel Category:Anime films scored by Nathan Stornetta Category:Anime films scored by John Jennings Boyd